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The Warhammer 40000 universe is full of beings with strange psychic powers. These are not dissimilar to the magic powers of the Age of Sigmar game, but a bit toned down. In AoS wizards are a ‘must have’, in WH40k they are a ‘nice to have’. In the Space Marine army these psykers are called Librarians.

Librarians are not super fighters in close combat. Their stats are similar to veteran sergeants rather than the Space Marine Captains or Chaplains. This means that you do not want to throw them in to close combat. Librarians work better as close support troops. Keep them near the action, but slightly back.

Space Marine Librarians and Psychic Powers

Space Marine Librarians are better than most as they can manifest 2 psychic powers each per turn. Remember that in point matched games you can only manifest any given psychic power once per turn for your whole army. If you have several Psykers think about which psyker will use which power. The exception to this once per turn rule is the Smite psychic power.

Space Marine Librarians come with psychic hoods as standard. These help the Librarian to Deny the Witch by adding +1 to his Deny the Witch rolls. This is not a massive bonus, however worth having.

There is a selection of 6 Librarian Psychic powers found on page 202 ‘Librarius Disciplne’. The psychic powers are:

Veil of Time: Can speed up Advancing and Charging units.

Might of Heroes: Buffs up a nearby model’s Strength, Toughness, and Attacks. This can be the Librarian himself.

Psychic Scourge: Use to target nearby enemy with low leadership to cause a mortal wound or three.

Fury of the Ancients: Causes mortal wounds to all enemy models in a straight line for a random distance. To be used when you are in a tight spot!

Null Zone: Negates invulnerable save for all nearby enemy and nearby psykers have a hard time casting psychic powers.

Labrarian’s Armour

Like the Space Marine Captain, the Librarian can take a number of different armour options. Power armoured Librarians can be given a bike or jump packs too. Choose a configuration that will allow them to keep up with the forward troops. Giving then a bodyguard of Veteran Space Marines could be a good idea if you have the points spare. Librarians do not get an invulnerable save.

Librarian Weapons

This Librarian comes with a force stave and a bolt pistol. If you are playing your Librarian as a close support I would suggest upgrading the bolt pistol to a boltgun or a Combi-weapon. This will make the Librarian more useful in the shooting phase too.

The Space Marine Captain is the natural leader for a Space Marine army. Captains come with different types of armour and can be mounted on Bikes, or even have jump packs.

Space Marine Captains are probably the best fighters in a Space Marine army. Both with shooting weapons and in the fight phase. On top of this they usually have abilities that bolster nearby friendly units. Captains can be tooled up with different weapons to fit your style of play.

Space Marine Captain Ability: Rites of Battle

Captains usually have the Ability called ‘Rights of Battle’. This ability allows you to re-roll to-hit rolls of 1 in the shooting phase and in the fight phase. If a near by unit gets to roll to hit in any other phase, say as a result of a psychic power, then they get to re-roll 1’s then too. Also remember that the Captain is always within 6″ of himself, soi he gets to benefit from this ability too!

This ability obviously is a greater benefit if you have more units within 6″. These units need to be friendly and from the same Space Marine Chapter, but if you are playing a multi-player game, they can be controlled by another friendly player. Remember that only 1 model has to be in range, and this can be vertically as well as on the same level. Also remember that tanks are units too.

The ‘Rights of Battle’ ability means that Captains are most useful when they are in the middle of the battle. Have them well supported with other units and get them to where you are going to be making the greatest number of hit rolls! Also remember that you can have two or more Captains in your army. You do not get extra bonuses for them being together. Spread out your Captains so that they will benefit the greatest number of units.

Space Marine Captain Armour

There are several entries in the Codex Asteres for the Captain. The main difference between them is the armour they where. The choices are basic power armour, terminator armour, ancient Cataphractii armour, and basic armour with a motorbike.

A captain in power armour is the cheapest option as far as power points goes. He has an ‘Iron Halo’ force field device that gives him a 4+ invulnerable save, so this armour is still formidable.

Captains in Power Armour have the greatest range of weapons available. this gives you the best chance to adapt the Captain to your play style. Do you want more fire power? If you do upgrade his bolt gun to a combi-bolter or storm bolter. Do you want more close combat strike power in the fight phase? If you do, have a look at the melee weapons available.

Captains in Power Armour can also be upgraded with jump-packs or a motorbike. Either of these options gives your Captain greater speed. You can use this speed to jump around the table re-enforcing your tactical units or to launch a lightning strike at a vulnerable point to swing the game. Be careful though! If your Captain is caught in the open he will be a sitting duck for and enemy shooting!

Adding a Jump-pack costs an extra 2 power points but gives the captain the Fly key word. This has the unexpected bonus of allowing him to assault aircraft. Yes, if they are in range your Captain can leap up and strike aircraft in mid flight. Armed with a power fist he could do quite a bit of damage too! Truly this is the closest you are going to get to Iron Man in a Space Marine army! (though the Tau HQ is worth a look too)

Upgraded with a Bike, the Captain gains extra fire power and an extra point of toughness. Be aware though that bikes can not clime buildings. This means that bikes are better on larger open boards than city fight scenarios.

Terminator armour is thick and heavy. This means that the captain has a better chance of saving (2+ basic), and he still gets the Iron Halo ( 4+ invulnerable save) . In addition to this he can take the heavier Storm Bolter that gives him a massive 45 shots at close range and 2 shots and 24″. The Terminator armour also allows him to teleport in to the battle. He can not teleport out again though (until after the battle), so make sure he arrives in the right place. Once he’s there he is on foot ( or riding in a Land Raider if you have one). The down side is that the Terminator Captain costs more points and is a bit slower.However if he is backed up with a terminator squad you get a detachments that are really good in close quarter combat and fire fights!

Cataphractii armour is an ancient form of Terminator Armour worn by Space Marine in Warhammer 30000. It is like Terminator armour. Created using techniques now lost in the depths of time the Cataphractii armour has the best saves of all. With a 2+ basic save and a 3+ invulnerable save this armour is the tops! As it is terminator armour you still get the teleport strike ability mighty weapons. The downside in points cost again and that this armour is even slower than Terminator Armour. With Cataphractii armour if you advance you have to half the distance rolled ( so on a roll of 5 you can go 2.5″) .

Primaris Captain Tactics

Primaris Space Marines are the new kids on the block for the 8th Edition of Warhammer 40k. The story line goes that they have been developed in secret waiting for the Space Marine Primarks to return. Much like the Clones of Star Wars. in gaming terms the Primaris Marines are what the Space Marines should have been. The classic models are not much bigger than an Imperial Guard, but in the fiction and fluff they are meant to be 7 or 8 feet tall. The small classic marines are a throw back to time when Games Workshop was run on a less professional basis (Rough Trader, or Warhammer 40 1st edition). Over time the sculpting skills have improved at GW and models have slowly been re-sized to a proper scale ( first where the Orks, then Rhinos and Land Raiders and now the Marines). After using the classic models for 25 years I am still getting use to the new larger marines, but for new starter to the game I would highly recommend starting with the Primaris Marines.

In game terms the Primaris Captain fairs very well against the classic Space Marine Captain. The Primaris Captain is one power point more but you get better weapons and one ext4ra attack in close combat (hitting on 2+ and re-rolling 1’s!).

I would highly recommend upgrading the Primaris Captain to have a power sword. He will is very useful in a fight so giving him the best tools for the job is well with the extra points in a points matched game. In a power lever matched game there’s no additional points cost for the upgrade so do it!

Primaris Captain in Gravis Armour

Instead if protecting your Primaris Captain in the traditional Power Armour, you can choose to have him wear the new Gravis armour. The Gravis armour costs one power point more than the Power armour and reduces the Captains movement to 5″ basic. what it dose offer though is 1 point extra toughness and access to more close combat weapons. I(f your style is to have your Captain lead from the front, then it is worth the upgrade!

Space Marines! The legions of the Adeptus Astartes – the Angels of Death (and remember that these are the good guys!), the defenders of mankind (ignoring the Imperial Guard, the Inquisition and all). These are the guys that will save the galaxy from the clutches of Chaos (just as long as they don’t succumb to Chaos themselves)!

Space Marine are easy to play in Warhammer 40k,and you don’t need many of them to make up an army. This means that they are very popular as a first army for new players. Easy to play doesn’t mean weak either! Space Marines are definitely the army to beat. If you win a game against them then you know that you have done well!

Space Marines come in many verities, some are different enough to have their own Codex. Examples are Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Space Wolfs. However there are many Space Marine chapters that follow the standard rules for Space Marines as set down by the Ultramarines, or close enough to use the standard rules with minor tweaks. These are called the.’Codex Space Marines’. Codex Space Marines include, but are not limited to; Ultramarines, Imperial Fists, Salamanders, White Scars, Raven Guard, Iron Hands, Crimson Fists, and Black Templars. In this section we will look at the Codex Marine, their rules and tactics you can use when playing Space Marines in Warhammer 40k 8th edition games.

General Space Marine Tactics

Space Marines are generally very tactical units. By that I mean that units are able to fulfil several roles on the battlefield. They have good armour, good shooting weapons, and are capable of fighting hand to hand. Equipped with an armoured personal carrier (Rhino or Razorback) they can act as fast blitzkrieg / shock troops too. To aid this multi role you will find that most Space Marines are armed with long ranged shooting weapons (Bolters), short ranged Bolt Pistols, and hand to hand Chain Swords.

Common Ability: They Know No Fear

Many Space Marine units have a common ‘They Know No Fear’ ability. this lets these units re-roll moral tests. This is most useful in the Moral Phase as it can mean that you loose less troops to failed moral checks. However be aware that there are other times when moral checks are needed. An example is when you are on the receiving end of some psychic power.

Battle-forged Detachment Abilities:

To encourage you to create ‘well formed’ detachments you get extra special rules that will help you to win. ‘Well formed’ means detachments that contain only Space Marines, and conform to the ‘battle forged’ formation structures found in the main rule book. For the ‘Defender of Humanity’ Spacial rule you can have a mixed bag of Chapters in your detachment, but for the ‘Chapter Tactics’ special rules you have to have just one chapter present.

Defenders of Humanity

Capturing objectives, or markers on the table makes up an important part of winning most 8th edition games. To capture a marker you usually have to have more models contesting a marker than your opponent does. With this special rule you can grab the objective with a single TROOPS unit regardless of how many enemy units are there. Note that all the other codexes released so far give other armies well formed the same special rule. If both players have units with this special rule contesting an objective you go back to counting the number of models in those units. The player with the most models with this ability wins it.

Notice that this ability only effects TROOPS units, not HQ, ELITE, HEAVY SUPPORT, FAST ATTACK, or any other unit type. For the Space Marines it means that it’s effect is limited to Tactical Squads, Intercessor Squads, Scout Squads, and Crusader Squads. So if you are contesting an objective and you have one Tactical Squad in 3″ of the marker, and your opponent has three ELITE Terminator Squad and a HQ Captain there, you still will the objective even though you seem to be outnumbered!

The Defenders of Humanity special rule boosts the value of TROOPS units way above the actual points cost. If winning games is what you are after, you need to see that you need to place the TROOPS units at the centre of your strategy. In a Space Marine army you will be helped with the ‘Combat Squads’ special rule and Dedicated Transport units. More about those later!

Space Marine Chapter Tactics

To add flavour to the Space Marine chapters, different chapters have been given some special rules that fit the back stories of those chapters. In game terms it allows you to have a look at the different chapters and see which special rules fit your style of play and adopt that Chapter, or a made up successor chapter.

Ultramarines: Codex Discipline. Ultramarines add one to leadership characteristic and you can shoot even if you Fall Back.

Salamanders: Master Artisans. Salamander units can re-roll one failed wound in the shooting or fight phases.

Raven Guard: Shadow Masters. When shooting at Raven Guard from 12″ or more, the opponant must subtract 1 from the hit rolls

Iron Hands: The Flesh is Weak. Iron Guyard ignore wounds on a 6.

Space Marine HQ Tactics

Every army needs a leader to lead it to great victories! Well mostly, as in Warhammer 40000 you can get away with not having a leader for your army, but it is a good idea! If you do take a leader, you will find them in the HQ section.

You can take several HQ units in one army if you wish. If you do then you will want to nominate one of them as your general. It is usual to choose the biggest and strongest character as your general, but the choice is yours!

Chapter Relics

Chapter Relics are free upgrades that you can give to a Space Marine Character if your Warlord is a Space Marine. Note that you can not upgrade a ‘Named Character’. The character could be, and usually is your warlord himself. You can find a full list of the relics and their special rules on page 200 of the Codex: Space Marines.

Space Marine Troop Tactics

The core of any Warhammer 40K army should be the Troop units. You should have enough troop units to make sure that you do not get out numbered.

The Space Marines have 3 main options . The Tactical Squad, the Scout Squad and the new Primaries Marine Intercessor Squads. Black Templar marines get the Crusader Squad, but not the Tactical and Scout Squads.

As mentioned above with the Defenders of Humanity special rule troop units have a much bigger role in the game.

Tactical Squads: The core of the Space Marine army. A Tactical Squad can do it all. It can capture objectives, give a good fight in close combat, and take on monstrous creatures with bolters, meltas and heavy weapons.

Intercessor Squads: Get use to S4 bolter weapons! Armed with the 30″ bolt rifle this unit can lay down a lot of fire over a good distance. Look to the upgrades to make this unit more tactical. Primarice Marines also get an extra wound and extra attack in the fight phase.

Scout Squads: Trainee Space Marines. Used to infiltrate and grab objectives before the first turn. However lightly armoured so die quicker. Scouts can be armed with close combat or heavy weapons.

Crusader Squad: Special Black Templar troop unit. This squad mixes both scouts (Neophytes) and tactical marines (Initiates). Crusader squads are very flexible in thier configuration and can have up to 20 Marines in a unit.

Space Marine Elite Tactics

The Space Marine army has a number of Elite unit choices. It is very tempting to dive in and have a lot of elite units in your army. However beware! Elite units cost points. If you have too many then you will find that you do not have enough points for Troop units and become out numbered very quickly. You may want to keep to two or three Elite units in a 2000 point game.

Primaris, Chapter, Company Ancient: Banner carrier Character for the army. Use to be part of the command squad. Has extra wounds and minimal wargear upgrades. His banner does improve the leadership for nearby Marines from the same Chapter.

Chapter Champion: Close combat specialist character. Comes with a big sword but no shooting weapons. Get him in to combat quickly and often.

Space Marine Fast Attack Tactics

Fast attack units do what they say on the tin. They move around the table quickly adding support to stricken units or strike at an enemy’s weak spot. Fast attack can be useful for grabbing objectives if there aren’t any enemy troop units around.

Make sure that your Fast Attack units have support. They can make easy targets if they rush up the board unsupported.

Space Marine Dedicated Transport Tactics

Rhino, Razorback Tanks: Rhinos are great for getting 10 man Tactical Squads around the table quickly. Razorbacks Transport 6 but has a big gun to support the troops too. Razorbacks are good for zipping Honour Guard and Veterans, or 5 man Tactics Squads around with a spare space for a Character to ride along!

Over the years Games Workshop have created a number of auxiliary Imperial Forces that are not quite big enough to warrant their own Codex, but are too fun to play to drop completely. These include The Sisters of Battle, Assassins, The Legion of the Dammed, and Inquisition, amongst others. Recently Games Workshop have done the right thing by bringing all these factions in to one Codex, Codex: Imperial Agents.

If you have been collecting Warhammer models for a while, or you have one of the boxed games that have these units in, you will want this updated Codex with the latest rules and updates.

Imperial Agents General Tactics

The Imperial Agents are not designed as a stand alone army. This does not mean that you cannot use them on their own. It’s just how they are designed, so let’s have a look at this first.

Imperial Agent Factions

Cult Mechanicus: Mechanics with optional labotomised heavy weapons.

Aeronautical Imperialis: Fire power on the wing and good for fast troop transportation too.

Adeptus Astra Telepathica: Imperial Psykers that come singularly or as brotherhood of psychers.

Adepta Sororitas: Guard in Power Armour, or low point Marines? Make of them what you will. They do come with a lot of framers, so they are always hot stuff!

The Deathwatch: Elite Space Marines on a mission.

Grey Knights: Got a Daemon problem? Rent a Marine has the solution for you!

Legion of the Dammed: Veteran Marines with firery shells and a reputation for warping out when the going gets though!

Officio Assassinorum: Nope, no one here!

The Inquisition: Oh no, not the comfy chair!

What Imperial Agents can add to a Space Marine army

WH40k Space Marines have a very developed army list, and you can find a solution to any situation within that list if you wanted to. However there are units found within the Imperial Agents Codex that are useful in specific situations. This is another case of being prepared if you have advanced knowledge of the opposition, territory, and mission.

3 of the Imperial Agent factions are special types of Space Marines. The Deathwatch, Grey Knights, and Legion of the Dammed, are elite Space Marine units. If you want to add more elite units then you can look at these units in addition to the ones found in the Codex: Space Marines.

The Officio Assassinorum is a popular addition to a Space Marine army. Their assassin skills can be very useful in certain situations. I would not recommend having more than one in a game.

Tech-priests Enginseers of the Cult Mechanicus are useful for repairing tank and other armoured vehicles. Space Marine have Techmarines covering this role, and although the Techmarines are 10 points more you do get a lot for the extra points.

The Sisters of Battle (Adeptus Sororitas), and Inquisition may be useful if you want to add cheaper gun fodder. They have a bit more bite than an Imperial Guard detachment which is the usual go to for gun fodder.

What Imperial Agents can add to an Imperial Guard Army

With the Imperial Guard the Imperial Agents really come into their own. Any of the Imperial Agents can act as Elite units for the Guard.

As usual, I highly recommend that you limit the amount of points spent on Elite units. If you over do it you will find yourself short of boots on the ground to achieve your objectives!

Cult Machanicus and Tech-Preist Enginseers give the Imperial Guard a chance to repair tank and vehicles like Techmarines do for the Space Marines. This is great if you are fielding Leman Russ Tanks and Chimera. The trick here is to keep the Tech-Preist and the armour together. Servitors will aid the Tech-Preist too.

The Aeronotica Imperialis can be useful for the Guard too. Their Valerie aircraft can ferry Guard units around the board quickly. This can be very useful to steal objects.

A Tyranid Lictor sneeks up on Sisters of Battle

Where the Adaptation Sororitas or the Sisters of Battle as cut price Marines, the Guard see them as armoured Veteran units. The power armour and flames are just the tool for cleaning out buildings where poorly armoured Guardsman would just get shredded in close combat.

On Saturday we had a great game of Warhammer with 2 Chaos forces ( Chaos Space Marine and Daemons of Tzeentch) face 2 forces of Order (Using AoS) armies of Space Marines and Tau.

Richard and I had a quick pre-game match to get use to our new armies. Ghks was the first time I have played Chaos Daemons in 40k so I was flipping back and forth through the Codex getting use to the Daemon Special Rules. Richard also got to grips with the raft of new weapons availible to the Tau since the last Codex.

In the afternoon Lee and Mark arrived for the main battle royal. Lee brought Space Marines with him and Mark had Chaos Space Marines. This is what Richard had suggested would be the case so no big surprises there.

As Richard and Lee where long time 40k comrades and because it made a better match to the background fluff Richard and Lee teamed up as the forces of order against Mark and I who where the new comers championing the forces of Chaos.

My first surprise was when I saw the army that Mark brought. As we where playing 1000 points per player I was surprised my how HQ heavy and troop unit light his force was. It did not bode well as my force was fast and light but a bit short of solid troop and heavy support units. This brought up the first learning point, where possible, in a two handed game, check with your team mates what they are bringing to the battle or you could end up with a mismatched force.

It was great fun testing out my Chaos Tzeentch Daemons in a WH40k game, even though it was not a winning outcome! Many thanks to Richard, Lee and Mark for the battle.

In the 2015 Space Marine Codex there are 10 different formations that you can add in to your army list. No you will not be able to add all the formations in to each game, the formations will cost more points than the game limit will allow. If you play a super massive Apocalypse game then you may be able to, but that is what Apocalypse games are all about!

Are Space Marine Formations worth it?

Formations usually add some special rules that can give you a gaming advantage. The cost of this is that the formations normally have a formation structure and often other restrictions too.

So is it worth jigging your army list around to accommodate formations? I believe that if the changes are in line with your game plan, then you may find that slipping the formations in to the army list. However the special rules usually do not give such a big advantage to warrant making major game plan change

Space Marine Battle Demi-Company Tactics

The Space Marine Demi-Company is a fairly strict formation of mainly troop based designed to be a core army. The advantage of this formation is that it is easier to claim contested objectives. With the Maelstrom of War scenarios taking objectives is a major part of the missions.

Space Marine Anti-Air Defence Force Tactics

With this formation you need to know that you will be needing a major amount of anti aircraft support, or anti Monstrous Flying Creature support.

Ezekiel and the Dark Angel Librarius Concave, it sounds like a 1960’s psychedelic pop group to me, and if you think the same you may not be far wrong!

However the Dark Angel Librarius Concave is a Dark Angel formation found on the Games Workshop Black Library site. The ebook it’s self is a small publication that has the formations special rules and not much else. You could print it out on one side of A4 (letter sized) sheet of paper.

The Dark Angel Librarius Concave Formation

The Formation consists of Ezekiel and a small number of Dark Angel Librarians. This means that the formation will fit nicely along side a battle forged formation or a Demi company formation. And you may be able to do this in 1500 points with careful points cost planning. Fitting the Concave in to a 2k game should be easy.

The Dark Angel Librarius Concave Special rules

“On the other side of the Battlefield I could sense Brother Ezekiel and Brother Paul mind link to perform a psychic blast. Now it was the turn of Brother David and I to use our skills.

Brother David was with Squad Delius a few feet in front of me. I was with squad vintners. They where glad of the extra protection my psychic hood gave them. the either was heavy with the screams from the void. So heavy even not psychics could sense it.

I sensed Brother David pick out a leader of the fallen to interrogate. Linking to my mind I opened up my skills to perform the Mind Worm, a skill I knew well but Brother David did not. With this access he reached out to the fallen but the fallen was too far away. At that moment I added my psychic energy to his to boost the range and we locked on to the mind of the fallen. While Brother David when to work opening the mind of the fallen I sensed a ripple in the warp. I was able to synchronizes with the ripple and the Mind Worm held. Brother David continued to unlock the fallen’s mind but then the link broke. The fallen had fended off our link this time and mentally numbed from the effort we needed to rest our minds a few minutes before trying both again. Time to see what a few bolter shells will do. ”

Apart from letting you field more Librarians per game, with all their extra psychic power dice, the Librarius Concave comes with a single special rule that has 3 parts basically you can pick a Dark Angel Librarian from the formation and he can form a temporary mind link with the other Librarians from the same formation within 12″. This gives this Librarian extra powers, but the other Librarians in the mind group can not do anything that psychic phase. This means that you may want to buddy up your Librarians in pairs. This will give you all the special rule bonuses with the greatest efficiency.

Conclusion

If you like to field psykers, and you have a mode to represent Ezekiel, plus another 2 psykers, then you may want to get this Data slate and give your opponent a headache!

Azrael, Supreme Grand Master Tactics

Azrael is the most senior Dark Angel leader. Because of this he is the most expensive character available, and has the most special rules. Unlike most Chapter Masters Azrael‘s special rules are as much about empowering the unit he is in as it is about giving Azrael more punch. This is quite different from the other Space Marine Chapter Masters and Special characters.

Azrael’s Wargear

Azrael has some wargear. His Combi-Bolter, Plasma Gun is master crafted so the one shot plasma gun a better chance of hitting and not over heating. Azrael‘s

Power Sword is S6 AP3. This means that you should be able to slice through standard Space Marine and Chaos Marine power armour, bur it will bounce off Terminator armour.

Azrael has Artificer armour that gives a 2+ save and the Feel No Pain special rule on a 5+. These are fairly standard and not worth the high points cost. The last war gear item is special. The Lion Helm gives his whole unit 4+ invulnerable saves.

All this means that Azrael is more able to survive a fire fight than a close combat fight. This means that you may want to hold back on Azrael until you have thinned out the enemy with fire power and use close combat specialists like Terminators to mop up.

Azrael’s Special Rules

Grand Master Azrael has a number of special rules. Some of these special rules bestow other special rules on Azrael, so you need to make sure you know what you have!

Deathwing Special Rule

The Deathwing special rule shows that Azrael is, or has been promoted from the Dark Angel 1st company, the Deathwing. This special rule gives Azrael the Fearless special rule and hatred to Chaos Space Marines.

The fearless special rule means that Areal, and any unit he joins do not have to take fear, pinning and moral checks. This spacial rule should mean that pinning weapons have far less effect against Areal and his unit. The downside of fearlessness is that Azrael and company will not be able exit an assault if thing do not go well by opting to fail a moral check. All this means that you will want to pick and choose the fight that Azrael get in to carefully.

One sneaky tactic would be to have an Imperial Guard detachment as an allied detachment. This will allow you to have Azrael join a unit of 30 conscripts. Doing this will create a nearly un-shiftable fearless unit with 4+ invulnerable save and Ld10. Set out in a Congo line, that would create a unit 3 men deep and 33″ wide ( nearly 3 feet wide) or a single line 6 feet wide. Definitely an obstacle to any enemy advance!

Warlord Trait

If you field Azrael then he will automatically become your warlord. As such you will need to roll against the Warlord table, however Azrael can only one of the Dark Angel warlord traits in the Codex, however you do have the option to pick which one. This means that you can factor in Azrael’s warlord trait in to your tactics before you arrive at the game. Other armies will have to react to the trait rolled at the start of each game.

Summary

As we have seen, Azrael is a tactician and not street fighter. Use him to empower the rest of the army and you will see that he is truly worth of the the title of Dark Angel Lords of War!

There was one obvious omission from the 2013 Dark Angel Codex and the 2013 Chaos Space Marine Codex, and that was the character called Cypher. Cypher is considered to be one of the most wanted of the fallen Dark Angels that disappeared in to the warp during the fall of Caliban. Since then the whole of the Dark Angel army and their successor chapters have been obsessed with capturing or killing Cypher.

The last time we saw any Warhammer 40k rules for Cypher was in the 1999 Chaos Space Marine Codex. However the Games Workshop servitors have been busy and created the ‘Dataslate: Cypher‘ e-book that is available on the Black Library web site and available for most e-readers.

The Dataslate e-book is about 200 pages long (depending on the read text size) and covers a good deal of background background on Cypher and the rules needed to play him in a Warhammer 40000 game or a Warhammer Apocalypse game.

In addition to the background material and the rules, the Dataslate e-book also contains 6 new battle missions based on Cypher.

If you are looking for a compatible ebook reader, I can recommend the Caliber Ebook Reader. It’s so good I even donated some funds to the project! For Android devices the ‘ Cool Reader ‘ app works well. You can find this in the Google Play app store. Apple users are on your own as I do not have any Apple devices.

If you have the Cypher model, or you are looking to add some spice in to your Dark Angel vs Chaos battles, for example if you have the 2012 box set, then you will find that this e-book addition is well worth the £10.

Cyphers Profile Stats

There are 2 things that jump out at you as you have a first look at Cyphers Profile stats. the first is that at 190 points he does not come cheep! The second thing that jumps out at you is that there are some very high stat scores in the profile. It is these profile scores that indicate how Cypher should be used.

Cypher the Gun-slinger!

Cypher in akin to the old west gun-slinger. He has a BS score of 10 and initiative 8. This makes him fast and accurate by any measure. Add these scores to the fact that he carries two pistol weapons and then add in is ‘ Blazing Weapons ‘ special rule that allows him to use the pistols as close combat weapons and you can see that Cypher is designed to be in the thick of the action on the battle field.

How does BS10 work?

It may be that you have not seen a profile with BS10 before as they are very rare. How they work is that if you roll a 2+ to hit,then you hit ( just like a BS5 profile ). However the roll of 1’s do not automatically miss. If you roll a 1 then you re-roll that dice and on a 2+ on the 2nd roll you hit too. This means that characters with BS10 will hit 35 out of 36 tries. That is 97.22% of the time!

Basically if you manage to miss one roll in a game you are exceedingly unlucky!

How Sneaky is Cypher?

Cypher is very Sneaky. First off Cypher gets Fleet of foot so he can re-roll run and assault rolls.

Cypher also gets Hit and Run so you can try and split out of a close combat mile. I do recommend that you try this at the end of the combat in the opponents round. This gives you the chance to run off or re-assault in your following turn.

Cypher gets the infiltrate special rule. And remember that the infiltrate rule also gives Cypher the Outflank rule too. This means that you have a number of options when it comes to when and where Cypher can start the game.

Cypher also gets a couple of sneaky rules curtsey of the unsheathed sword that he carries. These are the shrouded rule that gives you a +2 to your cover save. This is good as Cypher does not get an invulrenable save. So hug any cover you can and watch out for flamer weapons.

The sword also gives Cypher the Eternal Warrior special rule. This means that Lascannons and other heavy weapons do not wipe out Cypher with one shot.